Charges in Roseland melee that cost teen an eye

Schaumburg High School senior Andrea Sanders had dreams of becoming a nurse or perhaps an attorney.

Those dreams might be affected after doctors were unable to save her eye following an attack Sunday in the city's Roseland community.

The man identified as the one who threw a broken bottle at Sanders has been charged, police said this morning. Tommy McLaurin, 34, is expected to appear at a bond hearing this afternoon on two counts of felony aggravated battery.

Witnesses said between 20 and 25 people were involved the melee. Police offered no motive for the incident.

But the mother agonized about telling her daughter that she had lost her eye in the attack that Ford says was a case of mistaken identity.

"I've got so much going through my mind right now, it's just hard to talk about right now," Ford said.

Andrea, 17, stays with her maternal grandmother in Schaumburg. On Sunday, she was joined by two cousins to visit family members who lived on the Far South Side. The trio was pulling over so that a male cousin could go to a convenience store when they noticed they were being flagged down by several people, Ford said.

As the group of people approached the car, the cousins noticed the people had bricks, sticks and other weapons, Ford said. As one of the cousins tried to tell them that they had the wrong people, they were quickly attacked by members of the group, Ford said.

"They were trying to tell the people that they had the wrong people ... but they weren't trying to listen," Ford said.

As relatives fought off their attackers, Andrea saw one of her attackers break a bottle and throw it into her face.

Ford credits two police officers with saving her daughter's life. "(Those officers) might have saved my child's life," she said.